


June in Ten: Take a glorious bite out of the whole world

by NobleLandMermaid



Series: June in Ten [2]
Category: The Office (US)
Genre: Alternate Ending, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/M, What-If
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-16
Updated: 2017-10-16
Packaged: 2019-01-18 01:59:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,387
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12378534
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NobleLandMermaid/pseuds/NobleLandMermaid
Summary: Ten years after Jim Halpert moves to Stamford, Connecticut, he attends an author panel and runs into a certain former co-worker...





	June in Ten: Take a glorious bite out of the whole world

**Author's Note:**

> 2nd of my "what if" scenarios 10 years after Pam was to marry Roy.

"Jim I really appreciate you coming with me to this, you didn't have to."  
  
Jim tossed a quick smile over to the passenger seat before looking back to the road. "Of course, what's my alternative with you in the city anyway? Chinese take-out and Netflix solo?"  
  
Allison laughed and thumbed through the notes in her lap, "That sounds better to me than pretending to be interested in the latest installment of _The Night Detective_ by Finn McQuinn." Allison worked as an editor at a small publishing imprint and had been roped into monitoring a panel of authors with summer releases this evening in Manhattan.  
  
"Finn McQuinn?" Jim said with a scoff.  
  
"Penname," explained Allison.  
  
"Yeah, I figured as much but I though the point of a penname was to pick something cool and memorable, not rhyming and ridiculous." Jim glanced over to Allison's paper. "Any other winners?"  
  
"The other authors have pretty normal names. Though one book is called _The Horse Flyer_."  
  
"That's... interesting." Jim said.  
  
Allison rolled her eyes, brushing her long auburn bangs to the side, "Everyone tried to get Pam to name it something else but she insisted. It's a good book, they're marketing it as young adult because that's the fad, but it's more middle-grade. Has really nice illustrations which you just never see anymore."  
  
Jim tightened his grip on the steering wheel, hearing that name paired with "illustration" was like pressing on an old bruise he forgot he still had. The date wasn't helping matters either. Ten years ago this day he was drinking alone in a still mostly-empty apartment in Stamford, watching baseball and futilely attempting to not think about anything happening 150 miles west of him. He was almost able to pretend the whole event never occurred, at least until Michael emailed him pictures and he saw her, smiling and dancing, more beautiful than he ever imagined in white satin and lace. He wanted to email Michael back and ask stupid questions like if there was any hesitancy during her vows, if anyone mentioned his name and if there was any hint of sadness on her face.  
  
He deleted the email instead.  
  
Not five months later Dunder Mifflin Stamford was closed. Jan offered Jim good money to head back to Scranton as the Assistant Manager. Josh made him a counter-offer: come to the regional Staples office with him and make a little less but have more potential to grow (and less potential of seeing certain people). Jim picked Staples. He lasted all of eight months before getting sick of the corporate politics and the backstabbing co-workers who took full advantage of his easy-going nature, Josh included.  
  
After Staples, he started working at a local bicycle shop for an hourly wage. Things were lean for a while but he at least never left work feeling drained and defeated, either professionally or personally. Now he was a store manager, poised to take over ownership of the small bike shop whenever the founder decided to retire, hopefully in the next year or two.  
  
Dating was weird for a long time, he didn't have trouble finding girlfriends but they never stuck around long. He heard the "afraid of commitment" line more than a few times, first from his co-worker Karen in their brief disaster of a relationship after Dunder Mifflin Stamford closed, then from every woman after. He met Allison at a bar of all places last year, her out celebrating getting an editor position at a book publisher. He asked her what exactly a book editor did and was instantly drawn to her enthusiastic explanation, how she had to slog through a lot of crap and deal with a lot of egos at her job but every so often she got to edit a hidden gem and it made it all worthwhile. _"Isn't that life though, just seeking out those little ... moments that make it all worth it?"_ Allison asked him that first night, her eyes bright and blue. Jim smiled and gave her a nod.  
  
They strolled arm in arm into the Fifth Avenue Barnes  & Noble, Allison walked off to the central area of the store where while Jim stayed near the front and perused the magazine aisles. Once he flipped through all the cycling and sports editions, he slowly made his way over to panel area, stopping in his tracks at at easel holding a promotional board. At the top was a head-shot of Finn McQuinn, trying to look far more mysterious and intriguing that the 40-something-year-old man with thinning hair that he was. Next was a glamour-shot of the other headliner, romance author Raquel Holiday. Below Finn and Raquel it said "Newcomer!" and he blinked several times before believing that it did actually say "Pamela Beesly", and that the photo below was her, her hair down in smooth curls, her eyes and her smile exactly matching his decade old memories.  
  
"Would you like to buy a book for the signing after?" a young bookstore employee called to him, pulling Jim out of his trance. He walked to the table with three stacks and stopped in front of the pile of books with cover illustrations of curly haired girl flying on a snow-white pegasus, hills and a town that looked an awful lot like Scranton in the background. ' _The Horse Flyer_ ' was pasted on the top in a whimsical font.  
  
"I'll take this one," Jim said.  
  
The panel had already started and Jim took a seat in the back, purposely behind another tall man. He studied the cover of the book, trying not to think about why she went by "Beesly", probably used her maiden name as a penname since "Pamela Anderson" had obvious other connotations. Starting from the back he flipped though the book, mostly to look at the illustrations. He flashed to a lunch in the breakroom, long before transfers and weddings and casino nights, when she had brought in her sketchbook at his insistence, her face lighting up when he started gushing about her talent and skill. He reached the dedication page, reading the italic letters, "to everyone who encouraged me and helped me take a chance." It was a nice sentiment, he thought, a way to thank everyone and not have anyone feel left out.  
  
At the front, Allison was seated next to a long table, and she had just gone down the line of authors asking everyone to describe their first publishing experience. When she reached Pam, there was a nervous laugh before Pam admitted that _The Horse Flyer_ was her first publishing experience. "We'll take it slow and gentle," Allison remarked.  
  
"Yeah, I've heard that before," Pam quipped back and the audience laughed.  
  
An audience member asked the authors when they came up with the lead characters for their books. Finn gave some clearly scripted explanation that the 'Night Detective' had been with him since childhood. Raquel Holiday was refreshingly honest and got a good laugh from the crowd when she said she just tries to make sure she's not using the same name as a previous heroine. Pam chewed her lip for a moment before speaking.  
  
"When I came up with Becky, I was married to my high school sweetheart -"  
  
Jim hoped his gulp wasn't audible when he heard the word "was".  
  
"- I had been with him since I was 16 years old. And since I had been with him for so long I didn't how to ... not be with him. Even as I felt everything falling apart, I still didn't know how to leave. So I'd think back to being 16 again and what direction I could have gone. Of course I went through the realistic options, but then I started imagining the more fantastical, Narnia or Harry Potter type of stuff. I'm not even sure how it got to flying away on a pegasus, but that sounded pretty damn good to me about then so I went with it. And then quirky tenth-grader Becky Walters came into my life."  
  
"And the husband? Is he still in your life?" Allison asked.  
  
"Nope, not for five years," Pam said. She laughed, "In fact today would have been our 10th anniversary. But I think being here with my first book instead is a definite upgrade."  
  
Jim smiled and clapped along with the rest of the audience.  
  
The next question was about biggest obstacles in the authors' publishing journey. Finn and Raquel discussed getting passed rejection and finding an audience. As with her previous answer, Pam was more personal. "All my adult life I've gravitated strongly to what was sure and safe. It's what kept me from art school, kept me at a menial desk job, kept me in the aforementioned relationship too long. Making it as a writer and illustrator is about as unsure and unstable a career path as anything. But someone who was very dear to me once said 'you gotta take a chance on something sometime.'"  
  
Jim snapped his head up, his heart suddenly working overtime.  
  
"And I wish I could say I listened to him then but I didn't, I let... a lot of opportunities to be happy and fulfilled pass me by. In the end my biggest obstacle was myself." Jim bit his lip as he watched her caste her eyes down, silent as she seemed to be lost in thought for a moment. She then shook her head and smiled, "But I kept sketching and writing and when I finally got ready to submit my draft to agents, and the nagging 'this is going to get rejected' and 'this isn't any good, no one wants to read this' thoughts were running through my head I just pushed it to the back. The only thing I allowed myself to think was 'You gotta take a chance on something sometime" and really those words are what made me put my draft in the mail. And now, here I am."  
  
After a couple more questions, Allison announced the end of the panel and asked everyone to give one last round of applause. Jim tucked the book under his arm and stood as he clapped, smiling when Pam's eyes finally met his. She stared at him stunned for a moment before a grin spread across her face.  
  
The authors had a brief break before signing and Pam stood chatting with Allison, though Jim noticed her frequently glancing to him (not that he could exactly pull his eyes from her) as he slowly made his way to the area behind the panel table. Much as he wanted to go straight to Pam, he walked to Allison instead, placed his hand on the small of her back.  
  
"Hi!" Allison greeted cheerfully, then turned back to Pam, "This is my poor boyfriend who was kind enough drive down with me tonight."  
  
"Oh, stop, it's nothing, in fact I'm pretty happy I came," Jim looked to Allison, "Pam and I actually used to worked together."  
  
Allison's eyes widened, "Oh wow, small world!"  
  
A look Jim couldn't quite discern crossed Pam's face before turning into a smile, "Yeah, Jim was kind of the office prankster, a couple of the gnome's antics in the book were definitely inspired by him."  
  
"Oh, you turned me into a gnome, huh?" Jim said with a smirk.  
  
"He's tall for a gnome," Pam replied.  
  
"So did you know back then you were working with such a talented artist?" Allison said to Jim.  
  
Jim looked straight at Pam, "Yeah, I did actually."  
  
Pam gave a small smile and quickly tried to hide her blushing cheeks.  
  
Allison glanced over to where the separate book signing tables were, "Okay, I better show these kids how Finn and Raquel like their tables set up or I'll never hear the end of it. Pam, you have any bizarre requests for your table? A very specific brand of bottled water? Books stacked like a pyramid?"  
  
Pam laughed and shook her head, then lowered her eyes when Allison gave Jim a quick kiss. After a moment Pam finally looked up Jim and smiled, "She's really great, I'm so happy I get to work with someone with her."  
  
Jim nodded and gave a half smile, "Yeah, she's definitely dating down being with someone like me."  
  
Pam gasped softly and her brows met, "Jim-"  
  
"So, _The Horse Flyer_ ," Jim quickly started, showing her his copy.  
  
"You bought one?"  
  
"Of course, Pamela Beesly is about to be the next JK Rowling, I have to have a first edition."  
  
Pam blushed once again and looked at her shoes.  
  
"Really though, published author and illustrator... that's a big deal, Beesly." He ran his thumb over the cover before looking back to her. "I hope... I hope you're as proud of yourself as I am right now."  
  
He couldn't help but notice her shinny eyes as she nodded.  
  
"Okay everyone, the signing will start shortly, Finn, Raquel and Pam will all have separate queues, so please have your book copies ready and line up accordingly." Allison called out.  
  
Pam pointed her thumb back over her shoulder. "I should -"  
  
"Oh yeah, of course," Jim said. He then knitted his brows when she reached out her hand.  
  
"I gotta sign your copy first, though," Pam said.  
  
"Right," Jim said with a nervous chuckle and he handed her the book. She flipped through the first couple pages then set the book down on a nearby table and started to write.  
  
"Here you go, hold on to this, it's a _signed_ first edition," Pam said, closing the book and placing it back in his hands.  
  
"I'll buy a display case for it tomorrow," Jim joked. He looked at the line forming at her table. "Your adoring fans await."  
  
Pam smiled and stepped forward, and before Jim knew it her arm was around his neck and her soft cheek was pressed to his.  
  
"Thank you, Jim," she whispered. He close his eyes for a second, savoring the feeling of her breath on his ear, her soft lips pressed oh so briefly to his jaw. By the time his eyes opened she was several steps away, and he took and couple deep breaths before opening up the book and finding her autograph on the dedication page, smiling as he read the soft cursive letters.

 

> _Jim,_  
>  _I finally took a chance._
> 
> _Love,_  
>  _Pam_

**Author's Note:**

> BTW here is [Pam's adorable pitch for "The Horse Flyer"](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qKpZM9gTaHs) in "the Inner Circle" (7.23)  
> if you love that JAM, come join us at [MoreThanThat](http://mtt.just-once.net/fanfiction)
> 
> Check out our [Halloween Writing Contest](http://mtt.just-once.net/fanfiction/news.php?action=newsstory&nid=251)


End file.
